Dilmun Mounds: Ancient Secrets of Bahrain (17 photos)

It is impossible to drive through Bahrain without noticing at least one ancient burial mound. These small conical hills are usually found in groups, sometimes hundreds of them in one area.





The mounds date back to the Dilmun era, an ancient people who inhabited the Arabian Peninsula in the 3rd millennium BC. Historical evidence indicates that the Dilmun civilization was located in the Persian Gulf, on the trade route between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, and remained an important trading center for 2,000 years.



Most of the mounds are concentrated in the northern part of the main island of Bahrain. They once covered an area of several square kilometers, forming one of the largest necropolises of the ancient world. Archaeologists suggest that there may have been up to 350,000 burial mounds here.





Initially, these were not just mounds, but low cylindrical towers. Royal mounds were built in two tiers, reminiscent of ziggurats, and had complex burial chambers. Their shape and size varied in different regions.



The chronology of construction is not entirely clear, but most of the mounds date back to the early Dilmun period (2200–1750 BC). It was then, in the 2nd millennium BC, that the most magnificent tombs appeared, reflecting the heyday of the civilization.



Over the past 60 years, 90% of the mounds have been destroyed by construction. Bahrain's population has grown from 143,000 in 1960 to 1.2 million in 2010, and ancient necropolises have given way to homes, roads, and infrastructure.



Bahrain has applied for the Dilmun burial mounds to be listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2019, about 20 sites were awarded the status, protecting more than 11,000 ancient burials.





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